497 research outputs found
Meta-Stable Supersymmetry Breaking in a Cooling Universe
We look at the recently proposed idea that susy breaking can be accomplished
in a meta-stable vacuum. In the context of one of the simplest models (the
Seiberg-dual of super-QCD), we address the following question: if we look at
this theory as it cools from high temperature, is it at all possible that we
can end up in a susy-breaking meta-stable vacuum? To get an idea about the
answer, we look at the free energy of the system at high temperature. We
conclude that the phase-structure of the free-energy as the temperature drops,
is indeed such that there is a second order phase transition in the direction
of the non-susy vacuum at a finite . On the other hand, the potential
barrier in the direction of the susy vacuum is there all the way till .Comment: writing full author name
The interview as narrative ethnography : seeking and shaping connections in qualitative research.
Acts of counter-subjectification in qualitative research are always present but are often submerged in accounts that seek to locate the power of subjectification entirely with the researcher. This is particularly so when talking to people about sensitive issues. Based on an interview-based study of infertility and reproductive disruption among British Pakistanis in Northeast England, we explore how we, as researchers, sought and were drawn into various kinds of connections with the study participants; connections that were actively and performatively constructed through time. The three of us that conducted interviews are all female academics with Ph.Ds in anthropology, but thereafter our backgrounds, life stories and experiences diverge in ways that intersected with those of our informants in complex and shifting ways. We describe how these processes shaped the production of narrative accounts and consider some of the associated analytical and ethical implications
Intersecting Flavor Branes
We consider an instance of the AdS/CFT duality where the bulk theory contains
an open string tachyon, and study the instability from the viewpoint of the
boundary field theory. We focus on the specific example of the AdS_5 X S^5
background with two probe D7 branes intersecting at general angles. For generic
angles supersymmetry is completely broken and there is an open string tachyon
between the branes. The field theory action for this system is obtained by
coupling to N =4 super Yang-Mills two N =2 hyper multiplets in the fundamental
representation of the SU(N) gauge group, but with different choices of
embedding of the two N=2 subalgebras into N=4. On the field theory side we find
a one-loop Coleman-Weinberg instability in the effective potential for the
fundamental scalars. We identify a mesonic operator as the dual of the open
string tachyon. By AdS/CFT, we predict the tachyon mass for small 't Hooft
coupling (large bulk curvature) and confirm that it violates the AdS stability
bound.Comment: 36 page
A telephone survey of cancer awareness among frontline staff: informing training needs
Background:
Studies have shown limited awareness about cancer risk factors among hospital-based staff. Less is known about general cancer awareness among community frontline National Health Service and social care staff.
Methods:
A cross-sectional computer-assisted telephone survey of 4664 frontline community-based health and social care staff in North West England.
Results:
A total of 671 out of 4664 (14.4%) potentially eligible subjects agreed to take part. Over 92% of staff recognised most warning signs, except an unexplained pain (88.8%, n=596), cough or hoarseness (86.9%, n=583) and a sore that does not heal (77.3%, n=519). The bowel cancer-screening programme was recognised by 61.8% (n=415) of staff. Most staff agreed that smoking and passive smoking ‘increased the chance of getting cancer.’ Fewer agreed about getting sunburnt more than once as a child (78.0%, n=523), being overweight (73.5%, n=493), drinking more than one unit of alcohol per day (50.2%, n=337) or doing less than 30 min of moderate physical exercise five times a week (41.1%, n=276).
Conclusion:
Cancer awareness is generally good among frontline staff, but important gaps exist, which might be improved by targeted education and training and through developing clearer messages about cancer risk factors
Gravitational quantum corrections in warped supersymmetric brane worlds
We study gravitational quantum corrections in supersymmetric theories with
warped extra dimensions. We develop for this a superfield formalism for
linearized gauged supergravity. We show that the 1-loop effective Kahler
potential is a simple functional of the KK spectrum in the presence of generic
localized kinetic terms at the two branes. We also present a simple
understanding of our results by showing that the leading matter effects are
equivalent to suitable displacements of the branes. We then apply this general
result to compute the gravity-mediated universal soft mass in models
where the visible and the hidden sectors are sequestered at the two branes. We
find that the contributions coming from radion mediation and brane-to-brane
mediation are both negative in the minimal set-up, but the former can become
positive if the gravitational kinetic term localized at the hidden brane has a
sizeable coefficient. We then compare the features of the two extreme cases of
flat and very warped geometry, and give an outlook on the building of viable
models.Comment: 49 pages, LaTeX. References added, typos corrected, discussion of
section 6.1 changed, conclusions unchanged. To be published in Nuclear
Physics
Physical activity as an aid to smoking cessation during pregnancy (LEAP) trial: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial
Background: Many women try to stop smoking in pregnancy but fail. One difficulty is that there is insufficient evidence that medications for smoking cessation are effective and safe in pregnancy and thus many women prefer to avoid these. Physical activity (PA) interventions may assist cessation; however, trials examining these interventions have been too small to detect or exclude plausible beneficial effects. The London Exercise And Pregnant smokers (LEAP) trial is investigating whether a PA intervention is effective and cost-effective when used for smoking cessation by pregnant women, and will be the largest study of its kind to date.
Methods/design: The LEAP study is a pragmatic, multi-center, two-arm, randomized, controlled trial that will target pregnant women who smoke at least one cigarette a day (and at least five cigarettes a day before pregnancy), and are between 10 and 24 weeks pregnant. Eligible patients are individually randomized to either usual care (that is, behavioral support for smoking cessation) or usual care plus a intervention (entailing supervised exercise on a treadmill plus PA consultations). The primary outcome of the trial is self-reported and biochemically validated continuous abstinence from smoking between a specified quit date and the end of pregnancy. The secondary outcomes, measured at 1 and 4 weeks after the quit date, and at the end of pregnancy and 6 months after childbirth, are PA levels, depression, self-confidence, and cigarette withdrawal symptoms. Smoking status will also be self-reported at 6 months after childbirth. In addition, perinatal measures will be collected, including antenatal complications, duration of labor, mode of delivery, and birth and placental weight. Outcomes will be analyzed on an intention-to-treat basis, and logistic regression models used to compare treatment effects on the primary outcome.
Discussion: This trial will assess whether a PA intervention is effective when used for smoking cessation during pregnancy
Higher-Spin Interactions: four-point functions and beyond
In this work we construct an infinite class of four-point functions for
massless higher-spin fields in flat space that are consistent with the gauge
symmetry. In the Lagrangian picture, these reflect themselves in a peculiar
non-local nature of the corresponding non-abelian higher-spin couplings implied
by the Noether procedure that starts from the fourth order. We also comment on
the nature of the colored spin-2 excitation present both in the open string
spectrum and in the Vasiliev system, highlighting how some aspects of String
Theory appear to reflect key properties of Field Theory that go beyond its low
energy limit. A generalization of these results to n-point functions, fermions
and mixed-symmetry fields is also addressed.Comment: 66 pages, 10 figures, 1 table, LaTex. Several statements clarified.
Final version to appear in JHE
Physical activity as an aid to smoking cessation during pregnancy: Two feasibility studies
Background:
Pharmacotherapies for smoking cessation have not been adequately tested in pregnancy and women are reluctant to use them. Behavioural support alone has a modest effect on cessation rates; therefore, more effective interventions are needed. Even moderate intensity physical activity (e.g. brisk walk) reduces urges to smoke and there is some evidence it increases cessation rates in non-pregnant smokers. Two pilot studies assessed i) the feasibility of recruiting pregnant women to a trial of physical activity for smoking cessation, ii) adherence to physical activity and iii) womens' perceptions of the intervention.
Methods:
Pregnant smokers volunteered for an intervention combining smoking cessation support, physical activity counselling and supervised exercise (e.g. treadmill walking). The first study provided six weekly treatment sessions. The second study provided 15 sessions over eight weeks. Physical activity levels and continuous smoking abstinence (verified by expired carbon monoxide) were monitored up to eight months gestation.
Results:
Overall, 11.6% (32/277) of women recorded as smokers at their first antenatal booking visit were recruited. At eight months gestation 25% (8/32) of the women achieved continuous smoking abstinence. Abstinent women attended at least 85% of treatment sessions and 75% (6/8) achieved the target level of 110 minutes/week of physical activity at end-of-treatment. Increased physical activity was maintained at eight months gestation only in the second study. Women reported that the intervention helped weight management, reduced cigarette cravings and increased confidence for quitting.
Conclusion:
It is feasible to recruit pregnant smokers to a trial of physical activity for smoking cessation and this is likely to be popular. A large randomised controlled trial is needed to examine the efficacy of this intervention
Superconformal symmetry and maximal supergravity in various dimensions
In this paper we explore the relation between conformal superalgebras with 64
supercharges and maximal supergravity theories in three, four and six
dimensions using twistorial oscillator techniques. The massless fields of N=8
supergravity in four dimensions were shown to fit into a CPT-self-conjugate
doubleton supermultiplet of the conformal superalgebra SU(2,2|8) a long time
ago. We show that the fields of maximal supergravity in three dimensions can
similarly be fitted into the super singleton multiplet of the conformal
superalgebra OSp(16|4,R), which is related to the doubleton supermultiplet of
SU(2,2|8) by dimensional reduction. Moreover, we construct the ultra-short
supermultiplet of the six-dimensional conformal superalgebra OSp(8*|8) and show
that its component fields can be organized in an on-shell superfield. The
ultra-short OSp(8*|8) multiplet reduces to the doubleton supermultiplet of
SU(2,2|8) upon dimensional reduction. We discuss the possibility of a chiral
maximal (4,0) six-dimensional supergravity theory with USp(8) R-symmetry that
reduces to maximal supergravity in four dimensions and is different from
six-dimensional (2,2) maximal supergravity, whose fields cannot be fitted into
a unitary supermultiplet of a simple conformal superalgebra. Such an
interacting theory would be the gravitational analog of the (2,0) theory.Comment: 54 pages, PDFLaTeX, Section 5 and several references added. Version
accepted for publication in JHE
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